Dubai: An unbeaten half-century by Umar Akmal took Pakistan to a competitive total of 153 for five in the second and final Twenty20 international here Friday. It was perhaps 10 to 20 lesser than what they would have expected after the way their openers began.

Imran Nazir was all at sea against Shane Bond in a testing opening over Thursday but the batsman ensured he got on top of him Friday, smashing two fours to get the innings started.

Bond looked a far better bowler when he cut back on his pace and focused on getting the ball to swing inwards, which kept the right-handed openers in check.

Tim Southee, too, managed to keep the batsmen quiet whenever he bowled a tight line outside the off stump and took the pace off the ball. But the openers improvised, backed away and created opportunities to bring up those early boundaries. After Southee leaked three fours in an over, captain Brendon McCullum brought in Ian Butler and the move worked immediately when a slow yorker hit Nazir’s leg-stump.